Chapter 66: The Weird Paradise Entrance

"How could he be dead?!" Qi Xia said in disbelief. "He was fine when we parted yesterday."

"I also find it strange," Lao Lü said. "Maybe it was from excessive blood loss? He was still talking and laughing before going to bed last night, but he didn't wake up this morning."

Qi Xia's pupils contracted slightly, sensing that there was something inexplicably eerie about this.

Although Zhang Shan had been injured, it clearly wasn't fatal. From Lin Jian and Tian Tian's descriptions, the black bear had only caused some superficial wounds and hadn't damaged any internal organs.

So how could he have died in his sleep?

"Did he have any other injuries?" Lin Jian asked. "Like being stabbed with a knife or sword in the early morning..."

"No," Lao Lü said, shaking his head sadly. "But I can't say for sure. We're not forensic experts, after all. We just know that Zhang Shan wasn't moving, wasn't breathing, and his chest wasn't rising anymore."

Qi Xia stroked his chin, feeling that this incident was most likely related to "Xiao Xiao."

In the Di Niu game, Qiao Jia Jin and Zhang Shan were undoubtedly the two most outstanding players. Without them, so many people wouldn't have survived these two rounds.

Yet, in just one night, both of them had perished.

If it wasn't Xiao Xiao's doing, then it must have been Di Niu's.

"Are you guys cheating...?" Qi Xia muttered through gritted teeth, his eyes filled with a cold glint.

"Who? Me?" Lao Lü asked, startled.

"No..." Qi Xia had a bad premonition in his heart. At this rate, the number of people with a chance to clear the game would keep decreasing.

Thinking of this, he turned to Lao Lü and said, "Lao Lü, since your 'organization' is no longer around, can you tell me about how to escape?"

"It's not entirely gone," Lao Lü said, scratching his head awkwardly. "It's just that with Zhang Shan dead, I can't stay there anymore..."

"Hmm?" Qi Xia didn't understand. "Wasn't Zhang Shan your leader?"

"Not exactly," Lao Lü shook his head. "Our leader isn't Zhang Shan—he was just the third-in-command in the organization."

"The third-in-command?"

"Yes," Lao Lü continued. "Our organization is called 'Tian Tang Kou,' and it has about twenty people. The leader is named 'Chu Tian Qiu'—a very smart man. The second-in-command is 'Yun Yao'; she's incredibly lucky, often wins at gambling, and is really beautiful. I heard she was a celebrity before coming here. As for Zhang Shan, he used to be a soldier, so he mostly handled the 'cow' types..."

"Wait, wait a minute..." Qi Xia felt like he'd spotted a loophole and quickly interrupted Lao Lü. "You said your organization has twenty people?!"

"Well, probably less than twenty now... With Zhang Shan dead, us 'useless ones' got kicked out..."

"That's not the point!" Qi Xia said, looking puzzled. "Lao Lü, when did you all arrive at this place?"

"Two days ago," Lao Lü replied without thinking. "Isn't that when you guys came too?"

Qi Xia was even more confused. "We did arrive two days ago, but I still don't get it... How could you build an organization in just two days? And even divide it into three leaders? Did you all trust each other right away?"

After saying that, Qi Xia shook his head again. "No... That's not right. You already had the organization yesterday, which means you set up this 'Tian Tang Kou' on the very first day?!"

"Yes," Lao Lü nodded seriously. "It was all Chu Tian Qiu's idea. On the first day, he didn't join the game. Instead, he ran around the city looking for strong people. Since I, Xiao Yan Jing, and Zhang Shan came out of the same room, we joined up with him. But now that Zhang Shan is dead, I..."

"Hold on..." Qi Xia raised his hand to interrupt Lao Lü again. "Are you saying that this man named Chu Tian Qiu gathered twenty people in just one day?"

"Yeah," Lao Lü said, looking at Qi Xia earnestly. "That's why I say Chu Tian Qiu is really smart."

"But why did you believe him?" Qi Xia asked, puzzled. "When a stranger comes to form a team, shouldn't you be suspicious?"

"Because Zhang Shan believed him," Lao Lü explained. "I don't know what he whispered to Zhang Shan, but after thinking for a few minutes, Zhang Shan took me and Xiao Yan Jing to join 'Tian Tang Kou.' Though I have to say, the people there are pretty decent. Compared to them, I'm the most useless one."

Qi Xia stared at Lao Lü in disbelief, as if trying to gauge whether his words were true or false.

If there really was something like "Tian Tang Kou" and a figure as capable as "Chu Tian Qiu," why hadn't anything happened to him?

If "Sheng Xiao" really wanted to eliminate the skilled participants, the first one they should target would be the leader, Chu Tian Qiu.

"Isn't Xiao Yan Jing with you?" Qi Xia asked.

"No," Lao Lü said, looking a bit downcast. "Xiao Yan Jing is stronger than me, so he stayed with 'Tian Tang Kou.' He's always been good at studying, unlike me—I've just been selling socks for over twenty years."

Qi Xia nodded. It seemed that even though Zhang Shan was dead, nothing had changed.

This organization called "Tian Tang Kou" still held the key to escaping from here.

The "notes on escaping" that Zhang Shan had mentioned were probably with the leader, and someone like Lao Lü wouldn't know the details.

Gradually, Qi Xia clarified his own goal.

Once he found Li Jing Guan, he would try to team up with him. After all, he was one of the few people Qi Xia could trust.

Then, they could go to "Tian Tang Kou" and offer their services. On one hand, to pursue a way to escape; on the other, if there really was a group of capable people there, Qi Xia wouldn't mind joining them for these life-threatening games.

As Qi Xia was thinking this, the three of them passed the street corner marked with "S" and "Z."

Lao Lü led them directly in the opposite direction.

Lin Jian was startled and turned to Qi Xia. "Did we go the wrong way originally? Is that 'S' and 'Z' not from them?"

"I don't know," Qi Xia shook his head.

Lao Lü overheard their conversation and glanced back at the symbols that looked like letters or numbers.

"'S' and 'Z'?" Lao Lü hesitated. "Isn't that '52'?"

"Do you know what that means?" Qi Xia asked.

"I don't know the meaning, but I've seen numbers like that in many places," Lao Lü said. "Maybe it's just for helping people remember routes, like calling this '52 Da Jie' or something."

Once Qi Xia realized these symbols had nothing to do with Li Jing Guan, he stopped caring about their meaning.

After all, there were too many confusing things here, and there wasn't time to investigate them all.

"We're almost there, just up ahead," Lao Lü said, quickening his pace.